Mascot Mook

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Most Mooks exist solely to die en masse at the hero's hands. Some become emblematic of the series in the process.

The Mascot Mook combines the ubiquitous nature of a Mook with the iconic appeal of a Mascot, and despite lacking Nominal Importance these guys have become spotlight stealers among the game's bestiary.

Perhaps there's something memorable about their design or behavior. Maybe they are one the more basic and common enemies so their presence becomes a part of the series' setting. Maybe they are so cute or goofy that the player can't help but smile every time one of them pops up — despite how often they willsuddenly pop up or how many of them the player will slaughter throughout the game.

Whatever the case, these Mooks have somehow become just as vital to the series as a whole as your core party members are to the narrative of each separate installment. Fans silently expect these guys to appear somewhere in each and every installment (often in multiple versions), simply because they always have, and no new game would be fit for release without their appearance.

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While this trope is most prevalent in video games, it is by no means exclusive to them; Stormtroopers, Zakus, Daleks, and Minions are some iconic non-video game examples.

The Arctic Warfare soldiers in the original Metal Gear Solid. While the game has other types of enemy soldiers, the arctic variants are the only ones that appear in the VR missions and are used to represent the original MGS in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus. Even Genola, a giant genome soldier who appears in the VR missions added in Metal Gear Solid: Integral and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, is dressed in arctic warfare gear.

Metroids, given the series was named after them. Although they are generally Elite Mooks at the very least when they appear, and in some games they tend to be the strongest enemies around.

Legends also contains the Zakobon, easily the most recognisable reaverbot; a smiley, one eyed, waddling, bomb throwing Mecha Mook.

The Kittens from Tail Concerto and Poulets from SkyGunner are practically Expies of Servbots, all legions of childlike, invincible minions who pilot the villains' battle machines. Of course, Kittens are the only ones who aren't robots, and you are tasked with actually removing them from the battlefield...which involves shooting them with a bubble gun and teleporting them back to the police station.

Rabites from the World of Mana series: Small, legless creatures with rabbit-like ears, a cottonpuff tail, and at their higher levels especially, one mean bite. Some entries in the series even allow you to have a Rabite as your own sidekick.

Rune Factory has the Woolies, adorable bipedal sheep. Since the series a spin-off of Harvest Moon with monster battles and exploration added, the woolies can actually be tamed and used as a source of wool.

Rathalos for the original Monster Hunter, the first Freedom, and the international release of World, Azure Rathalos for Monster Hunter G and the Western release of 3 Ultimate, Seregios for the Japanese and European release of 4 Ultimate, Tigrex for Freedom 2, Nargacuga for Freedom Unite, Brachydios for the Japanese version of 3 Ultimate, Lagiacrus for 3, Zinogre for Portable 3rd, Gore Magala for Monster Hunter 4 and the American release of 4 Ultimate (It also represents the Monster Hunter franchise as a whole in Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Unite) and Kushala Daora for 2, making it the first Elder Dragon to grace a game cover, followed by Nerigante for World.

Rathalos and Rathian serve as this for the series in general, having appeared in every game in the series and being subject to tons of merchandise, as well as the Yian Kut-Ku. There's also the Felynes and Melynxes, who have become popular enough that they make more non-mook appearances than mook appearances, though they're definitely still mooks.

Action Shooter

The Rebel Grunts from Metal Slug are one of the most remembered parts of the game. A lot of the humor comes from their funny and casual actions. They've got to be playable in their own mode in the Xbox version of Metal Slug 3. Equally, or perhaps Even more famous are the Mars People.

Enter the Gungeon has the Bullet-Kin, walking bullets who bear different firearms to stop you from getting though the Gungeon. They have multiple variants (including Shotgun-Kin and Sniper Shells) and one is even playable.

The classic titles feature Tonberry, a little green-skinned hooded guy, Cactuar, a running cactus, and Malboro, a giant stinky plant (though all three qualify as Elite Mooks); Final Fantasy XI features its own take on Goblins, and the little Mandragora people. All of these have been immortalized in plushie form.

The Poo Snake from Blue Dragon was an intentional attempt to create one of these, because of the Cliché Storm theme. It worked - you can recruit one named Poopie in the sequel. They're basically Slimes, with all their Underground Monkeys.

Shin Megami Tensei has Jack Frost, who is the spirit of winter as a cute snowman dressed up like a clown. He has a bunch of related "Frost" type characters in each game to go along with him, such as his Distaff Counterpart Strawberry Frost and Evil Twin Black Frost. There's also Bonus Boss King Frost.

To a lesser extent is Cerberus, who is usually the player's first summonable demon in every game. Because the novel the series was based on had Cerberus as the main character's most dependable demon ally. Though this Cerberus is actually a white lion with a dragon tail instead of a hellhound (Cerberus is often depicted with 3 heads modernly, the number is inconsistent in the myths).

Also to a lesser extent is the Pixie, being probably as close to a Cute Monster Girl that you can get from MegaTen.

Mara is also a pretty famous recurring demon, by virtue of being a giant Gag Penis.

Alice also applies, though she's less of a mascot mook and more of a mascot monster.

Pikachu from Pokémon is a classic example. A rare mon who only appeared in one to two areas each in the entire original game, it quickly became an Ensemble Dark Horse, and Nintendo noticed. Interestingly, the developers originally intended for Clefairy and Poliwhirl to hold this role which can be seen to some extent with some of the promotional material from the first generation.

Dogoos (slimes with dog-like features) are the most readily-recognizable enemy in the Neptunia series.

Hit-Point Studio, a company that makes short RPGS for smartphones and home consoles, has the Pancho. This mushroom enemy appears in most if not all of their games, usually as the first enemy you fight.

The TAMADRA from Puzzle & Dragons. Interestingly, they are somewhat decent in the early game, due to having a solid 100 in all stats, but they're meant to be used as material to unlock a card's Awoken Skills.

First Person Shooter

The brain-devouring, body-possessing Headcrabs from the Half-Life series have been merchandised as plushies and even hats. (Someone in the game itself even keeps a Headcrab as a pet.)

Duke Nukem has the pig cops, who, since their appearance in Duke Nukem 3D, have proven to be the most popular enemies; since that game, they've appeared in many spin-offs of the main series.

The Boomer in the Left 4 Dead franchise has gotten popular enough to have Valve's store sell a plushie of the said bloated special infected, complete with sounds it makes in the game if you press the boils on its belly. Plushies of the other special infected are in the works.

Imperial Stormtroopers are among many contenders to the title of TheStar Wars Mascot, but in the Dark Forces Saga, they appear and the other guys (Yoda, Darth Vader, R2D2 etc) don't. So this makes the Stormtroopers de facto mascot mooks of the series.

The Headless Kamikazes for Serious Sam. They were even the focus of the first trailer for Serious Sam 3.

The Murlocs from World of Warcraft. They got their own song, and are sold as plushie toys. Most famous critter in the game, mostly due to the sound it makes when it attacks. Players can even get baby murlocs as pets and they are often part of the annual Blizzcon events. They're also heavily featured in their card game spinoff, Hearthstone, and are their own tribe of minions.

Fallens and Goatmen are the better-known enemies of the Diablo franchise, appearing in all 3 games.

MapleStory has the Orange Mushroom, but a number of other cute monsters, such as Slimes and Pigs, are prominent in the game.

Elsword has Phorus, walking critters that can talk with William (early game boss and appearing upon getting dud items) being the most famous of them. Events in the game often have costumed ones to defeat for their quests. And we have their ancestors the Ancient Phorus which are quadruped firebreathers, now available in mount form.

More recently, with a side of Ensemble Dark Horse, is the Icy Hedgehog◊ mob, who took the community by storm when it was released as a pet. Particularly its baby form, with its very simplistic face and design. It became such a fan-favorite that when an Elsword-themed popup café was opened in Korea, a portion of the merchandise had nothing to do with the actual main cast. Instead, it featured baby Icy Hedgehogs.

La Tale has the Prirings and their palette swaps, the original of which is the first monster you fight. They were so popular that they were later made available as a pet. The shaggies are also popular, with some players actually trying to make real world replicas of their Vendor Trash drop - the shaggy doll.

The Rascal Rabbits in Seal Online are white bunnies with a bloody cleaver, a Slasher Smile, and visible buttocks. Although it is a literal Killer Rabbit, only the gladiator variant is really dangerous. There are also other potential mascot mooks like piyas and beanies but not as prominent as the Rascal Rabbits.

Though numerous creatures in the Kingdom of Loathing are revered by various members of the community, including bugbears, ninja snowmen, and the vicious gnauga, only the sabre-toothed lime, a low-level monster found only in the Daily Dungeon and generally regarded as the "base" level of combat familiar, can truly be considered the game's mascot mook.

The Namazu beastmen (a race of short and chubby catfish) in Final Fantasy XIV have become very popular when they were introduced in the Stormblood expansion. The Namazu became so popular that they appear in the background of the developer's blog and were also used in the image for the returners campaign (a week-long event that entices inactive players to play the game again for free up to 96 hours). The Namazu are also in plushie form and are extremely popular among fans collecting merchandise.

Maze Game

Dig Dug has the Pooka, a red round balloon thing wearing goggles. Reportedly, a lot of merchandise was made off of this mook, plus you can unlock one as a playable multiplayer character in Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, and one was even factored into the storyline of the first Pac-Man World as one of the rescuable friends. They even make appearances as enemies in Super Smash Bros. in the Namco-developed 4th title.

Metall (or Mettool, or however you spell it) from Mega Man. Sniper Joes, although they're mainly locked into the Classic series. In exchange, not a single one of those games doesn't feature some variant of them. Metalls are a popular recurring enemy in Mega Man Battle Network, but the anime turned the Pop-Up virus into a Breakout Mook Character of sorts; the heroes reprogram one of the Pop-Ups into an ally named Rush, whose special ability basically involves popping into the real world to lend help, and he gets a fair bit of focus for what is otherwise a somewhat-known, mildly annoying enemy in the original games.

The Hoodmongers from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. It should be noted that there is nothing cute, adorable, or "wuvable" about them; they're basically potato sacks with large hats and shotguns. They're the Heartless of fairy-like creatures that have been Mind Raped, so there's a certain element of pity. They're also comically stupid, even more so than the Space Pirates. And eventually you get the ability to repair their damaged minds and restore them to what they once were.

Waddle Dees from the Kirby series: little clumsy red creatures that somewhat resemble Kirby, aside from their lack of a mouth. They are the weakest enemy in most of the games, more likely to serve as ammo for Kirby to spit at other enemies than a genuine threat; however, they can also be found wielding a variety of weapons, or piloting vehicles of various types. In some games "specific" Waddle Dees even appear as allies. To a lesser extent, the enemies that give Kirby Copy Abilities are in essence living power-ups and some grow to become heavily associated with their copy abilities. The Helper system in Kirby Super Star allowed Kirby to sacrifice a copy ability to summon some of these as playable characters.

Moos from the Klonoa series are big round creatures known for their Cat Smile and spacey expression (they sort of resemble a cross between a cat, a rabbit). They like to mill around aimlessly, waiting for Klonoa to use them as either a springboard or a missile. Their inherent harmlessness coupled with their adorable appearance easily makes Moos one of the most recognizable creatures in the franchise.

The Mafia goons from A Hat in Time. Mafia become face of game, maybe take over job for little hat girl. Maybe Mafia dress up as small mustache girl as well. Sell game as "A Mafia in Mafia." Everybody play! Maybe more profitable than fish...

The Kremlings in the Donkey Kong Country series, as they're led by the reptilian antagonist King K. Rool. Since they're absent in Returns and Tropical Freeze, the role is filled in them by the Tikis and the Snowmads (specifically the Tucks) respectively.

Puzzle Game

The DROD roaches are quite adorable, even if they are mowed down by the tens of thousands. They are also among the most notable elements in DROD, and the inexplicable cuteness of roaches is pointed out at every turn. Seeps are even cuter. This would be because they have a tendency to show up in extremely difficult puzzles.

The bullet-spewing turrets of Portal have their own life-sized plushies.

Simulation Game

Animal Crossing doesn't really have "Mooks," per se, but the adorable, blank-faced, wiggling Gyroids are as iconic of the series as the cute little characters themselves. City Folk even introduces a Gyroid character named Lloid who runs the Auction House, for no other reason than Gyroids are adorable. Not bad for a little clay fire hydrant.

Monster Rancher actually has six mascot monsters—although they vary in prominence, they are the six species most associated with the franchise (probably due to their prominence in the anime). "Officially," the series' mascot is eyeball-monster Suezo, but pudgy penguin-like monster Mocchi is often used more prominently in the games' art and advertising. Tiger the blue wolf is also used prominently in the advertising, and Hare is especially popular in Japan. Finally, there are rock-monster Golem and Cute Monster Girl Pixie rounding off the list of series mascots.

Shoot 'Em Up

Kiki Kai Kai has the Puka Pukas, which are cute, sock-puppet like ghosts which wear hitaikakushi on their heads.

Touhoualso had a visually identical enemy to the above in the Bakebake, but around the later games, fairies began to take their place, to the point that the former vanished entierly. Without them, the games would be grueling exercises of Boss Rushes. There are two spin-offs whose main character is/are fairy/ies: the manga Eastern and Little Nature Deity featuring three mischievous fairy, and the Gaiden GameFairy Wars, starring a well-known ice fairy fighting the aforementioned mischief makers; indeed, fairies are just as likely to be allies as they are to be foes.

Kedamas (balls of fluff with cartoonish expressions) are sometimes used but have caught on with fan artists almost as much as the fairies.

Xevious has the Bacura, spinning gray Invincible Minor Minion square panels. They didn't achieve Mascot status and were actually unnamed until their cameo appearances in Namco's Tales Series, where they actually appeared in various different roles, and even with Underground Monkey variants. They eventually also appeared in Ace Combat and even the 3DS entry into the Super Smash Bros. series as enemies in Smash Run, as it was co-developed by Namco.

Survival Horror

Pyramid Head and the nurses from Silent Hill are easily the most recognized monsters from the series. The latter have managed to appear in almost every game to date.

The UrbanMech of BattleTech. Short, slow, not all that strong, and absurdly popular to the point of being the second or third most identifiable 'Mech in the game, just behind the Atlas and the Timber Wolf. Current MechWarrior license holder Pirahna Games noticed this and responded by dedicating an entire update to it.

Turn-Based Strategy

Prinnies from the Disgaea series are condemned souls forced to work off their afterlife sentence in the hopes of being reincarnated as something not a Prinny in their next life. They also happen to be adorable little patchworkpenguins who are good with knives, explode when thrown and are contractually obligated to use "dood!" in every line they say. Of course, this being Disgaea we're talking about, the fact that they're Mooks puts them squarely under the player's command. They do show up as enemies, but not nearly as often as some other monster types, and when they do, it's generally in the tutorial levels or joke levels that expect the player to take full advantage of their volatile nature.

The Mooscues from Eternal Eyes. In addition to being one of the first allies you get in the game, and one of the earliest you fight, they also feature in the game's loading screens and have a prominent role in the intro.

A dev-made, non-canon magazine suggests that they evolved from each other.

Fyoras in Geneforge are this, Monster Allies, and the commonest of Com Mons all rolled into one. Physically, they're fire-spitting bipedal lizards—mentally, they're dogs, and in one ending of game 2 the main character is shown passing time in prison by teaching one to roll over for treats.

Dungeons Of Dredmor has the Diggles, weird little drill-nosed creatures that look like a cross between a mole and a penguin. The Expansion Pack Sequel even features a skill tree that turns you into a Were-Diggle.

The Fallout series has Radroaches from among the weaker early-game mooks, and Super Mutants and Deathclaws from among the stronger late-game mooks.

The White Mouse from Mousehunt, which is usually featured in merchandise. It's also the easiest (and the most "normal") enemy in the game, where almost everything else is a Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot Mouse.

Wide-open Sandbox

Subnautica: While not exactly mooks, since they don't attack you, if there is a creature symbolizing the game as a whole it's the omnipresent, adorable and delicious Peeper, a big-eyed fish found in most biomes that players adore and joke about often.

Every Gundam series has its own Zaku Expy that possesses similarities to the original including a single eye, using kinetic weapons instead of beam weapons, and being the antagonist faction's lowest-level Mobile Suit. However, much like the Gundams themselves, having all of these traits isn't a requirement to be a Zaku-based MSnote In fact, in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny the Zaku stand-in (which is outright called a ZAKU) wields beam weapons and is fielded by ZAFT, who are the good guys...at least at the start of the show.

Although Mazinger Z basically used a Monster of the Week formula, two of Mazinger's first opponents: Garada K7, a skull-faced Mechanical Beast with two detachable scythes on its head; and Doublas M2, a beast with two serpentine laser-shooting heads, are among the most iconic, and show up in just about every adaptation and Super Robot Wars game (even if no other Mechanical Beasts appear).

The Tower of Druaga has the ropers, possibly chosen because they don't really look at all marketable.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear: The Noise are the series' regular monsters that keep coming again every season. They generally appear in hordes and are easily fodder to the heroines, but deadly to anyone else who doesn't have a Relic. They often appear in various forms of merchandise and they tend to appear as mascots in OVAs.

Doctor Who has the Daleks, the most toyetic heartless, genocidal, world-destroying engines of destruction you'll ever meet.

The Ultra Series usually has several mascot kaiju for each major entry, often overlapping with Breakout Villain. This has become less common as the series recycle monsters more frequently though, resulting in more Mascot Mooks appearing over fresh new creatures.

The Kamen Rider franchise has the Shocker Soldiers, the grunts from the original series, who returned in Kamen Rider Decade to lead up to the big teamup movie, and then there was their use in the Kamen Rider OOO teamup net movies... their wacky 'Yee!' noises and hand movements made them good for comedy fodder, to the point that by now it's awkward to watch them in an actual Shocker-related movie. They're basically Kamen Rider's Pikachu by now, and here they are with knives. Attacking people. People we like. You don't see that every day anymore!

Webcomics

Bogey from Kid Radd was just one of a billion such Bogies in the game, and was likely a Captain Ersatz of Goombas and/or Metools.

The Imps from Homestuck Even though their appearances have been few and far between in the past year, their reactions and expressions in general were more than enough to win the hearts of the readers.

Web Animation

RWBY: of the Creatures of Grimm, Beowolves seem to be by far the most common and instantly-recognizable; they are the first Grimm seen both in the series proper and Chibi (not Grimm Eclipse, but close) and tend to be very front-and-center in the merchandizing.

Community

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